Pueblo Choral Society to celebrate a magical time of year with annual Christmas concert

Luke Lyons Arts and Entertainment Reporter @luke_lyons14

Friday

Nov 30, 2018 at 8:00 AM

In keeping with the theme of the Pueblo Choral Society’s 33rd concert season, the choir will celebrate a magical time of the year: Christmas.

With time being the season’s theme, songs for the chorale’s program will revolve around this time of year.

“Like past years, it’s a mix of sacred and secular (songs) for the holiday season,” said David Volk, Pueblo Choral Society artistic director. “There’s lots of pop tunes people will recognize and, on the sacred side, all of the traditional hymns and such everybody loves at Christmas.”

“The Most Wonderful Time of Year” concert will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at Majestic Baptist Church, 494 E. Hemlock Dr.

Joining the chorale Saturday will be the Lyrica Girls Choir by Bella Prima Musica.

“They’ll be our partner on the concert,” Volk said. “They always do well and we’re looking forward to performing with them.”

To celebrate the theme of time and Christmas, the chorale will perform tunes such as “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “The Bleak, Midwinter” and “Silent Night.”

The Pueblo Choral Society will also perform a unique take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas” in which each day is sung in a different style from a specific period of time.

“It’s called 'A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas' and is set in music of different time periods for each of the 12 days,” Volk said. “You start with Gregorian Chant and end up with a kind of John Philip Sousa march version.”

The song has been one of the more challenging pieces for Volk and the chorale to master in the month-long turnaround since the previous chorale concert.

The challenge, though, has been a welcomed one.

“We’ll spend a little more time on that one,” Volk said. “It’s nice to have one (song) that’s a little bit challenging on the program and has a little heft to it musically.”

Volk said the audience will enjoy the piece, too, in particular those familiar with classical music.

Several arrangements share connections with various composers throughout history.

“There’s definitely a Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart and later a Wagner (portion) where there’s definitely connections to specific pieces that you never thought would fit with the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ — but it does,” Volk said. “They sort of tweak the melody to fit into this other piece from different times in history. It’s a really clever, clever, clever piece.”

No matter if the piece is challenging or not, Volk said this concert always proves to be a fun one to prepare for.

Many of the tunes allow for those performing to recall cherished holiday memories.

The songs have been associated with, and sung throughout holiday celebrations throughout time.

“We always use music to celebrate,” Volk said. “At Christmas time it’s more of a question of why are you not going to sing?

“There’s something about singing during Christmas that’s different. It just brings you back or you connect with something that’s different than other times of the year. It’s always got that sweet sentimentality around it.”

In the Christmas spirit, the concert is free, however offerings will be accepted.

Cookies and other refreshments will be served afterward, and a jolly, old elf is almost certain to make an appearance.

“Santa usually appears,” Volk said. “We expect him back this year.”

For more information, visit pueblochoralsociety.org.

— llyons@chieftain.com

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